TREE RING ANALYSIS OF TIMBERS FROM HILL HALL, THEYDON MOUNT, ESSEX
Author(s): Dr Martin Bridge
This large country house is known to have been built by Thomas Smith, Secretary of State to Elizabeth I, between AD 1569-1575, although the exact sequence of building remained uncertain. A north-west wing was added later, and its date had been the subject of some conjecture, its unusual curved principal rafters being rare in the region. The dendrochronolgical study has provided a date for the felling of timbers used in the north range of the house to the period AD 1564-1580, thus apparently ruling out a possible earlier date of AD 1557-8 derived from some documentary references, though one timber did have an earlier date (felled AD 1546). The roof of the north-west wing was found to date to the period AD 1683-1701, over a century later than had previously been suggested.
- Report Number:
- 55/1999
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 18
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Standing Building
